A Rock n Roll ghost, MORE haunted hotels, a sighting of a very weird, 3-foot creature and much more strangeness on this edition of Jim Harold’s Campfire!
—
-TRANSCRIPT-
Jim (00:00:00):
A rock and roll ghost up next on the Campfire.
Announcer 1 (00:00:18):
Welcome to our gathering tonight. Here we share stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things. Sit back, relax, and warm yourself by Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim (00:00:29):
Welcome to the Campfire. I am Jim Harold, and so glad to be with you once again and you’re in the right place if you like real stories told by real people about real weird stuff. Could be ghosts, could be cryptid creatures, could be UFOs, could be my favorite– head scratchers. But whatever they are, they are true and they are utterly a fascinating and a fascinating, fascinating, I guess is what I’m trying to say. But so glad to be with you once again and excuse my inability to speak. I’m just getting over a little bit of a cold. But I tell you what, I’m going to make it up to you because you can get a free Campfire ebook. It’s a mini ebook of some of our favorite Campfire stories of all time, and you can get that by going to jimharold.com. That’s J I M H A R O L D .com, and clicking on the orange button at the top of the page and right there you can sign up and get your free Campfire ebook.
Jim (00:01:29):
So I hope that makes up for my stuttering and stammering, and we have a couple of things to tell you about before we get started. First of all, we have our Campfire merch specific to the season limited edition for 2023. And once they’re gone, they’re gone. We’ll only be selling those throughout the Halloween season, these limited edition, they’re very handsome. I see a lot of people who are wearing the orange Stay Spooky Campfire motif with the kind of nasty pumpkin on it, kind of sinister looking pumpkin. And those are available for the Halloween season of 2023. And you can get yours by going to jimharold.com/merch. That’s jimharold.com/merch. Also, we’re doing some fun things for video. Look for some fun videos from Cassandra and Dar. They did some really great videos over the weekend, some of their favorite Halloween recipes and things. We’re going to be posting those on my YouTube channel throughout the month, and then we’re going to have a big live stream to cap it all off as we always do for Halloween, it’s going to be Saturday, October 28th.
Jim (00:02:43):
That is Saturday October 28th. And stay tuned for this specific start time and details for that. But you could just pencil that in. That’ll be the evening of October 28th. That’ll be October 28th. And we thank you very much for that. And now we get into those great Campfire stories. Next up on the show is Jeremiah from Texas, and we’ve had a lot of different kinds of stories, but I don’t recall anyone having a story about being a musician who encountered a ghost, but such as the case with Jeremiah. And he’s going to tell us all about it. Jeremiah, welcome to the show and tell us what happened.
Jeremiah (00:03:25):
Hi, thank you. I’m honored to be here. Okay, so this was around 2009. I was living in a small town outside of Austin, and I had recently bought a house that was built in, I believe it was the 1920s, but like you said, I was in a band at the time and we would have band rehearsals on Sunday afternoon evenings at least twice a month. And so this was in the fall, I think it was early October. And so the sun was going down around 5:00 PM and I think we’d started rehearsing maybe around four. And so we didn’t have any lights on in the house and we rehearsed in the back bedroom that was dedicated to the music room, had his drum set up and everything. And so we just got to rehearsing and time got past us and it got dark throughout the house except for in the room that we were in. And we were rehearsing with the door open. And I guess the way everybody was set up was I was standing kind of right in front of the doorway with the door open, and then the rest of the band was just scattered throughout the room, fanned out facing me. We all faced each other or they all faced me when we rehearsed.
Jeremiah (00:05:05):
One of the main things that I was trying to get across, sorry, it’s my puppy, I was trying to get across to the band. That particular rehearsal was that no matter what happened, what mistake we made or what distracted us, that we would just keep playing until we finished the song. And so that was kind of like what we were working on that particular Sunday, and we were nearing the end of the song and all of a sudden everybody’s facing me. So everybody’s eyes just got really big and they all look like they’d seen a ghost, but nobody stopped playing. So we finished the song and as soon as we finished the song, all of them said all at once, “Hey, did you see that?” And when it first happened and we were playing, maybe there was something funny about me, I forgot to zip up my zipper or something like that, something that I had done that was stupid and that they were just going to laugh at.
Jeremiah (00:06:10):
But when they all said that, I didn’t expect for them to all have that reaction. And so my very first thought after that was, oh, they’re pulling a prank on me. This is something predetermined. And so when they said that, I said, wait, everybody go into a different room. And I gave everybody a piece of paper and a pen or a pencil, whatever I had, and I said, everybody just draw what you saw cause I thought I was going to catch them in a prank. And they went to the rooms and they were still kind of freaked out. And they came back and they all had drawn roughly the same thing. It was like a humanoid figure, but where the head was, it was just kind of round and there was no shoulders. So it was like head, shoulders and then a tall figure. And the way they described it was that it was darker than the dark wall that was behind me.
Jeremiah (00:07:20):
And I guess I can’t remember if the picture they drew had eyes or not, but I feel like I remembered that there were eyes attached to some of the drawings. Anyway, we spent the rest of that Sunday evening trying to replicate that shadow. I just didn’t believe, I still kind of was thinking this is the prank or trick of the light or something. And also, if I’m honest, I think I was bummed out that I didn’t see anything…
Jim (00:07:55):
Right, you missed out.
Jeremiah (00:07:57)
I was facing the wrong way, so I didn’t see anything. And they all saw what I assumed was a ghost. And obviously I listen to this podcast, so I’m interested in that type of stuff. I try to be skeptical, but I sincerely have an interest in it. And so I was kind of bummed out, so I was trying the best I could to disprove it. It was kind of changing where I was standing, had someone else stand where I was standing, changed the light, the lamp, there was a desk in there, kind of moved that lamp around and there was just absolutely nothing I could do to get a shadow cast on the wall behind whoever was standing in front of the door. So it couldn’t have been my shadow. And that was kind of it.
Jeremiah (00:08:47):
So that was kind of a ghost encounter, but out of the five people there, I was the only one that didn’t get to see it.
Jim (00:08:54):
Yeah, that’s one of those things that it’s quite jarring to wonder what it was. And that was an older house. I mean, for an American house, it’s an older house. Do you think it was maybe something that had lived in that place?
Jeremiah (00:09:12):
I don’t know. I feel like, yeah, I feel that’s kind of the most simple explanation would be that, like you said, it was just an older house and there was something there. It wasn’t something that, it didn’t feel good, like the vibe changed. And even though I was trying to figure it out and debunk it and whatever, it definitely changed the mood of the night. And it scared all of the people that saw it were scared and made nervous. And once I kind of got the debunking stuff out of the way, people were ready to leave. And then I was just kind of there and it kind of stuck with me and I kind of kept an eye out or was a little bit more on the lookout for something. And I personally never saw anything else, but the vibe definitely changed after that night.
Jim (00:10:22):
Well, Jeremiah, thank you so much for being a part of the program. I sincerely appreciate it and thank you for sharing this story. I think it’s the first one we’ve had of a ghost who maybe didn’t like a band playing in their former house possibly. I’m not sure what it might’ve been, or maybe they did like it. Who knows. Jeremiah, thank you again for being on the show.
Jeremiah (00:10:47):
Thank you for having me. Love the show. Thank you so much.
Jim (00:10:50):
Oh, we have a long time listener on the show. Cindi is with us all the way from Brisbane, Australia, and she’s been listening since 2011. A glutton for punishment, I guess. No, seriously, we really appreciate Cindi and folks like Cindi who’ve been listening for a long time, and she has a story that is really about her mom, her mom’s story, and we’re so glad to have her on the show. Cindi, thank you for taking time. I appreciate it. And please tell us what happened.
Cindi (00:11:22):
Okay, so basically my mom was born in Singapore and she grew up over there. And when she was a kid, her father, my grandfather, was a bank manager and the bank has actually sent him over to Hong Kong to start up a new branch over there. So from a period of when my mom was about 11 or 12, he was away from home a lot. And at that time, my grandmother, she doesn’t like sleeping alone. So my mom would spend, like sleep in her parents’ bedroom with her mom, with my grandmother, for months and months. So when my granddad came back home for a visit on holiday, my mom has to sleep back in her own bedroom. And she told me that on the first night her father came home, she was very, very excited and she couldn’t get to sleep, so she was lying in her bed. And in Singapore, especially back in those days, they have mosquito netting around the bed to keep the mosquitoes away.
Cindi (00:12:29):
And it was really hot, always really hot over there. So she would have her bedroom door open, and while she was lying in bed, she was so excited she couldn’t get to sleep when she noticed a figure walk into the room. So from a glance through the mosquito netting, she saw that was someone dressed in white and she assumed that it could be her mom coming in to check on her and maybe tuck her in. So she thought, oh, I’ll shut my eyes and I’ll pretend that I’m asleep and maybe give my mom a scare. So there she was lying in bed, she had her eyes closed, she was waiting for her mom to come over and tuck her in, and she waited and she waited and she waited and there was like nothing. No one came around. So she thought that was really, really strange, what’s going on?
Cindi (00:13:24):
So she took a peek with one eye to see what was going on, and she noticed that this figure was pacing around her bed from one side around to the end of the bed across to the other side. And it was just pacing around the bed like that over and over and over again. And she thought, that’s strange. It doesn’t seem to be like my mother. So she sat up to get a better look at the person, whoever it was, and the figure stopped at the end of her bed at the foot of her bed when she sat up. So she was like, it doesn’t look like my mom. So she kind of leaned forward a bit to get a better look. And she said that this figure was basically wearing something like a caped hood, sorry, sorry, a hooded cape or a hooded robe or something like that.
Cindi (00:14:22):
And the hood was pulled over its face quite a bit. So she sort of leaned further in to take a look, and she noticed that basically it’s really dark inside the hood and she couldn’t see the face properly, but she could see that there were two darker sort of holes where the eyes would be. So she kind of really startled by that. And then she noticed the figure was holding something like an urn or a pot in its hand, a small urn in its hand. And it was leaning forward too, to look at her. She was leaning forward to look at it, and then whoever it is, just threw some, she said it was like dust or powder from the urn straight into her face. And when it hit her on the face, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. So she had to sort of lie back down to catch a breath.
Cindi (00:15:21):
And then she was like, what’s going on? What is this thing? So it just kept pacing and as she was watching it, as she was lying down, she was starting to get a little bit unsettled by it. It was moving faster and faster and faster and faster until it was zooming really fast around her bed. And she was like that, that’s not normal. That’s not what, that’s not my mom. That’s not normal. That’s not the speed that you move at. So she sort of set up again to just really ascertain who this is. I don’t know why she was so brave. She said she didn’t even realize why she was so brave, but she was just more curious at that point. So she sat up and the figure once again stopped at the foot of the bed and threw that powder at her again and she can’t breathe immediately.
Jim (00:16:21):
Oh my gosh!
Cindi (00:16:22):
Can’t breathe again. And so she has to lie back down. And that’s when she actually got frightened. She got really, really scared. So she said that she pulled the blankets over her head to cover her head, and she was like, she told me at that time, she didn’t know what she could do, but she’s just started school, in sort of a Christian based private school at that time. So she has learned the Lord’s Prayer, and that was the only thing she knew. So she sort of repeated that over and over again and she said she was just so scared all night just huddling underneath the blanket. And she said she might’ve fallen asleep at some point, but she was certain that she wasn’t asleep when all of that was happening. As I said, she was too excited to go to sleep.
Cindi (00:17:17):
So she did say that she eventually somehow fell asleep, but then she got woken up by the cock crow. They had roosters and chickens at the place. So that’s when she sort of peeled the corner off her blanket a bit to sort of take a peek out. And it was morning, so whatever it was, it was gone. Yeah. So she was really, really scared and she thought she told her mom about it, but my grandmother was like, it’s probably nothing. You probably imagined it or whatever. But she was too scared. So they ended up having to get one of her cousins to come sleep in a room with her the next night, but then the thing never returned. So yeah.
Jim (00:18:09):
What did she think it was? What did she think it was?
Cindi (00:18:14):
She thought that, Chinese people, we believe that there is sort of like the yin and the yang sort of energy. So if you’re alive, you have the yang energy, that’s the energy of living things, living people and things from the other side, like dead things, ghosts, spirits, whatever. Even deities to a certain degree have the yin energy because they’re not of the material physical world. And she felt that perhaps maybe because she’s been away from her room for so many months that it all the yang energy was dissipated and the yin energy sort of came in and filled in the void and perhaps whatever it was, decided that it’s a good place to hang out for a bit until she decided to come back and sleep in the room. And so it’s sort of not welcomed by the energy anymore and perhaps left. That was her theory. But yeah, we don’t, to this day, we still don’t really know what that was all about really.
Jim (00:19:28):
Well, a very interesting story, and I mean the thing is, is that people experience these strange things across cultures sometimes they manifest themselves in similar ways, sometimes different ways, but they’re all compelling and I think they speak to things that we just can’t explain, the paranormal. Cindi, thank you for joining us from Australia today and for your longtime listenership and Stay Spooky.
Cindi (00:19:55):
Yeah, you Stay Spooky too, and I might even call back later for a couple of my own experiences.
Jim (00:20:02):
Excellent, excellent. Jim Harold’s Campfire is brought to you by Calm. Are you struggling with consistently getting good sleep? Lack of sleep can impact your mood, productivity, and overall well being. And Calm can help with their large library of sleep stories and soothing soundscapes. Just press play and drift away because Calm is the number one app for sleep and meditation, giving you the power to calm your mind and change your life. Calm recognizes that everyone faces unique challenges in their everyday lives that needs differ from person to person. And that time for meditation may vary. And since self practices are so deeply personal, Calm strives to provide content that caters to your preferences and needs. Their meditations range from focuses on anxiety and stress, relaxation and focus, to building habits and taking care of your physical wellbeing. They have expert led talks on topics such as tips for overcoming stress and anxiety, handling grief, improving self-esteem, caring for relationships and more.
Jim (00:21:12):
And in this one I’m going to tell you I had a very personal experience with the last few days, they have sleep stories with hundreds of titles to choose from, including sleep meditations and calming music that will have you drifting off to dreamland quickly and naturally. And I told you I had a personal experience because I’m just getting over a cold as I record this, I’m actually still have a little touch of it. And the one night I couldn’t sleep at all, I was congested, I’m like, I just feel terrible. I need to go to sleep. And I thought, come on Calm, you use Calm and hit play. And it’s that simple. And it was that simple because I tuned into a sleep story called “Into the Canadian Wilderness” narrated by a tremendous narrator Eric Braa. And I got to tell you, I didn’t make it very far into the Canadian wilderness.
Jim (00:22:06):
I made it on just the outskirts because I put Eric on and he put me right to sleep. So thank you Eric, and thank you Calm, and I know that you will thank me if you take advantage of this great deal because the Calm app puts the tools you need to feel better in your back pocket. If you go to calm.com/Campfire, you’ll get a special offer of 40% off a Calm premium subscription and new content is added each and every week, stress less, sleep more, and live better with Calm. And for listeners of the Campfire, Calm is offering an exclusive offer of 40% off a Calm premium subscription at calm.com/Campfire. Go to calm.com/Campfire for 40% off unlimited access to Calm’s entire library. That’s calm.com/Campfire. And we thank Calm for their support of the Campfire, and we thank Calm and Eric for a great night’s sleep. Thanks a lot Calm.
Announcer 2 (00:23:07):
If you love the Campfire, be sure to check out the Paranormal Podcast where every week Jim interviews experts and authors about strange mysteries. Find it for free wherever you listen to this podcast. Tune into the Paranormal Podcast today. Now we return to Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Jim (00:23:23):
Leah is on the line from Seattle. She is a healthcare provider and she says her and her husband are not tall tale telling people, which I really appreciate, but she’s got a tale for us today. Leah, welcome to the show. Tell us what happened.
Leah (00:23:42):
Hi Jim. Thank you for having me. This experience was shared with my husband who unfortunately can’t be here for the interview. He starts work earlier than myself, so he did want me to say that he agrees with the explanation of the experience.
Jim (00:23:57):
Excellent.
Leah (00:23:59):
This was 17 years ago in a town called Silverdale, and we were driving home from a late night movie, and it was midnight in the fall, very dark. We had stopped at a left turn lane, and then as we turned to the left, slowly let me set the scene a little better. As we turned to the left slowly there were reservoirs on either side of the road, and if it was daylight, you could see far in the upper left. There was a bus stop and everything was empty. There’s no houses there, there was no businesses there at the time, very pitch dark, very quiet.
Leah (00:24:42):
So we’re just slowly turning to the left in the car. And as we do, and you’ll forgive me, these types of experiences, words can be a challenge to explain.
Jim (00:24:54):
Sure.
Leah (00:24:56):
Something comes from the right side of our car, the passenger side where I was sitting, and it moved slowly in front of the car, so it apparently came out of the reservoir. And as we looked just driving down the road, we looked to the side, something that had metal, long slendrical, appendages, whipping around it. And then from my side of the car, as it walked in front of my light, I could see that inside of these long metal appendages was a bipedal creature that was about two to three feet tall. I couldn’t see any distinguishing characteristics to it. It looked like a shadow. So again, I looked through these metal appendages to see something in the center, and then the center was a creature with two arms and two legs and a head…
Leah (00:25:55):
…that was not your typical explanation of something alienesque. It didn’t have a large oval shape to it. It was just maybe a little wider to it, but nothing height-wise, it was all kind of, looked like it fit in the right body, and it walked in front of the car very slowly. Of course, we are stopped at this point, and as it walks from my side of the car to in front of my husband’s lights, he ends up not seeing what was in the center. He only saw the appendages swinging around the outside. So what I believe it was, was a creature that was trying to cloak itself and its cloaking device, the metal appendages, were not working, but by the time it got to my husband’s side of the car, they were working better. And that’s why my husband couldn’t see inside of the appendages, could only see these metal, silver things swinging around.
Leah (00:26:56):
It went from the right side of the car in front of the left side of the car into the pitch dark, which was not far from our car. And we just sat there for not very long, and then we just slowly kept rolling because it’s midnight, you don’t necessarily want to get out of your car and be close to something of that type. So we’re driving home very slowly talking about, did you just see what I saw? What did you see? And what did it look like to you? And it really happened, and it’s not something that I’ve shared with many people. I was curious if in your many 20 years of doing this, have you ever heard anyone talk about something similar?
Jim (00:27:37):
Well, I will say this. I believe that something, and I’ll use that word something, because I don’t know what it is. I think that there’s something or multiple somethings out there that have the capability to provide screen memories or shapeshift or those kinds of things. And I don’t know if you’ve heard this, and I don’t want to get into it too deeply because I’ve told it numerous times on the show and I don’t want to bore people, but my parents had a weird experience and they were both late at night in a car and they saw what my dad called a man in a welding mask. They saw a big flash of light, and then when they drove away, they saw what they termed as huge birds. Never any explanation for it. This is around 1970. So not only have I heard of, I mean it’s not exact, it’s not the same creature, whatever you’re describing, but the same idea.
Jim (00:28:35):
And we’ve also had Mike Clelland on some of the other shows like the Paranormal Podcast, and he talks about owls and how people see owls at odd times and the idea that maybe owls could be a screen memory for other things, like potential aliens and those kinds of things. While I can’t say I’ve heard specifically what you’re describing, specifically that type of creature, I have heard numerous cases of people seeing weird things. In Chicago, we had somebody call in and said they saw Mothman, those Chicago Mothman sightings. And it all speaks to me. People say, well, Jim, can you explain this? And I have to be very honest. No, I can’t. But what I can say, what I do believe, is that the world and reality is much stranger than we give it credit for, and that there are things that exist that we can’t see, sometimes we do see them, if they’re good, if they’re bad, if they wish us well, if they wish us good. I don’t know. Is it a mix of all of that? Where do they come from? I don’t know. But I do believe strange things exist. And sometimes when the conditions are just right, you see something like you saw, that’s the best I can give you. I’m sorry I can’t give you more.
Leah (00:30:03):
That’s great. Thank you so much.
Jim (00:30:06):
So don’t doubt yourself. I’m sure you both very much saw it and if you ever come up with any other ideas or whatever it might be, and that cloaking idea does appeal to me or screen memory, which are kind of two different things I think, but in the same family, something trying to hide itself, let us know.
Leah (00:30:27):
Thank you,
Jim (00:30:29):
Leah. Thank you for being on the show. We appreciate it and Stay Spooky.
Leah (00:30:33):
Stay Spooky, Jim.
Jim (00:30:34):
Dani is on the line from Denver, Colorado, a beautiful city indeed. We’re so glad to have her on the program and she’s going to tell us a head scratcher. I don’t even want to tell you what happened or give you a little clue because I don’t want to spoil the story, but suffice it to say I love these kind of stories. Dani, I know you’ve been listening for a few years and now you’re on the show. Thank you so much for that. I appreciate it. And tell us what happened.
Dani (00:31:00):
Well, thank you so much for having me, Jim. This story happened maybe 15 years ago. I was hanging out in this little town outside of Taos, New Mexico, and I’m sure Jim, Taos is a pretty spooky place. Yes, I’ve had a few weird things happen there, but this one is definitely super still perturbing to me to this day. So I was staying at this little campground kind of within a small area outside of Taos,
Dani (00:31:32):
And I was with two friends. We were just kind of walking along exploring, and we came upon this low wooden fence. So we were just walking along the fence. I was daydreaming. They were a little bit ahead of me, and I must’ve been looking at the ground or something because when I looked up, there was this woman coming toward me on the other side of the fence. And to me she looked, she was just dressed differently, kind of in what I would call prairie, like a prairie outfit. She had a very long dress on, billowy top, and a bonnet or a head covering of some kind. And so we just kind of were walking toward each other and we passed each other and we looked at each other, locked eyes, and then kept traveling. Sometimes I think she maybe waved at me, but I’m not certain, I don’t remember if that actually happened, but we definitely had some kind of connection.
Dani (00:32:34):
And I sort of felt like things felt a little bit different when we passed by each other. I’m not sure if things got quieter or things kind of slowed down, but in my mind, something changed in the air. So we just kept traveling our separate ways, and I kind of looked back and she just wasn’t there anymore when I looked back. And I was sort of so confused by the whole thing that I didn’t really understand what was going on. And I asked my friends ahead of me, did you see that lady? And neither one of them had seen her. So I thought maybe it was just, I don’t know. Somebody I passed and she kept walking and I don’t know what happened to her. I never really understood it, and I thought about it a lot over the years. Like I said, it was 15 years ago and I never really knew how to explain that situation, but it just felt strange to me every time I thought about it. And so a few years ago I heard on another podcast, about time slip…
Jim (00:33:41):
Yes.
Dani (00:33:42):
…and so I sort of think that’s what that was.
Jim (00:33:47):
Well, we had one caller, Sandy, who’s had a few great stories, but one of them was, I think it was Sandy who had a call, this is years ago, like early years of the show. She walked out across the street and walked right into a guy, and it turned out, it might not have been Sandy, but anyway, walked out into the street, walked right into the guy and looked up. And then I think her mom was taking her home from school and there was a McDonald’s or something that had opened, and at that time was, bad, a big deal. Can I go across the street and get a milkshake or something? She goes across the street, of course, looks both ways, and she gets to the sidewalk and she bumps into a man. She looks up and it’s a guy with a top hat and dark, 1800s clothing. And he just kind of looked down at her and scowled and it was totally like a guy in period dress. And she felt that, the storyteller felt that they just bumped into a person from the 1880s or something, very similar kind of thing. And the thing is that, I believe, and I’ve said this many times on the show, that reality is much stranger than we give a credit for. And while I do believe sometimes ghosts can be dead people, I think they can be other things and could they be a glimpse into the past? Because I’m not convinced that our existence is really as linear as we think it is. I think that, again, my watch phrase is reality is much stranger than we give it credit for.
Dani (00:35:29):
Yep. I’m with you, Jim.
Jim (00:35:31):
Well, thank you so much for listening for all these years. I appreciate it. And thank you for sharing your story on the Campfire and Stay Spooky.
Dani (00:35:39):
Stay Spooky. Thanks for having me.
Jim (00:35:41):
Jim Harold’s Campfire is brought to you by Pair Eyewear. And fall may the season of change, but life is more fun when you can choose to switch things up anytime. Here at this Spooky Studio, we made a big switch. Dar, who had worked on the outside as a speech therapy teletherapist has decided to come on and work with Jim Harold Media instead. And that’s been a lot of fun. It’s kind of freshened things up and switched things up. And you can do that with your eyeglasses too. With Pair Eyewear, you can change your look in a snap with their latest fall collections. Well, they give you even more ways to celebrate your creativity and individuality, whether you’re getting in the mood for spooky season, celebrating sweater weather, which I love, or both, which is what I basically do, their new designs bring a little autumn joy to your everyday look.
Jim (00:36:35):
I got the Casper frame and I got the blue kind of tortoise shell looking base frame. And then I got a black frame to put on top with sunglasses, which was very cool. And I got a gray frame and I got a red, white and blue one. But I got to tell you, it is awesome because I was just able to get some stuff for Halloween. I got their Trick or Treat Plaid, which is just kind of like a plaid, but it’s in an orange kind of motif. Fantastic, Stack Skulls. And that’s that top frame again you put on top and it goes click. So neat. Some different skulls on it and really very festive looking. And then the classic, probably my favorite, the classic Jack-o-Lantern. It’s a little jack-o-lanterns on your glasses. So you take your glasses, do you have your base frame? I have a Casper.
Jim (00:37:25):
And you click on these toppers and you can do it for all kinds of things, all kinds of holidays, all kinds of looks. These are for Halloween, and I am be the talk of the Halloween party, my friends, because I’ve got these great toppers from Pair. Absolutely love it. They’re budget friendly, but really style forward. Now they have these new top frame collections inspired by Autumn favorites. You can lean into spooky season like I did with the Halloween collection, featuring 18 enchanting new designs, including fun, cosplay styles and other supernatural creations. You can snuggle up to the harvest collection for the perfect pairings to your cozy sweaters and playful plaids. Now, they recently introduced some wider base frames, and these wider base frames mean comfort and style for all. They have a frame to fit every face with five new wider base frame styles, and they’re growing lineup frames.
Jim (00:38:24):
Well, it has options for everyone, the whole family, men, women and kids. And it’s easier than ever to find your perfect pair. With virtual tryon, you can find the right frame shape for you from the comfort of your home. Pair’s quality frames are built for everyday durability and versatility. So they’re the only glasses you’ll ever need. Save on traditional glasses. And their big markups because frames from Pair, their base frames, they start from just $60 and their top frames are just $25. So basically the idea is with the old frames, you have one set of frames and it’s like, okay, I’m going to be good for a year or two. Just looking like this, is the only, would you do that with a shirt? I’m going to wear the same shirt for two years. No, but with Pair, you get your base frames and then you put those top frames on and get that click and you’ve got basically a whole new look. It is awesome. Plus you get free standard shipping on all orders and a flexible 30 day return policy. I love it. Everybody I show this product to, they’re like, whoa, that’s cool because it is cool. Change things up this season with new frames from Pair Eyewear. Go to paireyewear.com/Campfire for 15% off your first pair. That’s Pair, P A I R eyewear.com/Campfire. And we thank Pair for their support of Jim Harold’s Campfire.
Announcer 2 (00:39:48):
Want the entire Campfire archive going back to 2009 plus much more? Get in on Jim’s Plus Club at jimharoldplus.com. Now back to another great story.
Jim (00:39:58):
Ryan is returning to the show from Southern California now he was on a few months ago and had this great story about apparently seeing a real live ghost. I don’t know if it would be live, but a real ghost on a college campus in the quad. And that was a fascinating story, and he’s following that up with one about, well, a very spooky hotel and the strangeness that ensued. Ryan, welcome back to the show. Thanks for joining us and tell us what happened this time.
Ryan (00:40:29):
Thanks, Jim. I’m glad to be back to share a little story with everyone. So this was in 2016, May of 2016. I remember because it was the first trip we took with my wife and I’s baby son, and we went to the Hotel del Coronado and Coronado Island and San Diego, and this is an old Victorian hotel. The oldest parts of it were built, I forget when, early 1900s Victorian style. And it is, well reputed that it has at least one ghost. I mean, they definitely have played it up over the years in their marketing. And so there is a little bit of a vibe, I think, at least when I’ve walked around. I’ve been there a few times and the oldest parts of it, it’s got the old dark waves coming, it’s got small areas, it’s got it definitely feels its age, but it’s a neat hotel.
Ryan (00:41:24):
And so I’d wanted to stay there. So we decided to book a room and we stayed in one of the older wings. And so just to give you a little background, so son was eight months old when we went and we used a sleep sheep, which is basically a stuffed animal with a noise machine, a white noise machine on the inside, and it had three settings and three buttons, and they’re all on the back of the sheep. And I give you this detail, but because in order to, we played one, we used one setting and you had to hit the button that was in the middle of the three to make it play, and it would play for 45 minutes and then cut off automatically. And that’s, we’d use this thing since he was a month old.
Jim (00:42:05):
If it works, it works. When they’re little, anything you can get him to go to, as long as it’s safe, as long as you can get him to go to sleep, it’s a good thing.
Ryan (00:42:12):
Exactly, exactly. And if he woke up in the middle of the night, the first thing we did is we turned on the sleep sheep and if he needed to nurse he’d nurse, or we just rub his back and just get him back to sleep. But the sleep sheep was part of our routine for several years. And so this was pretty much like any night we put ’em to bed, we usually left a little light on in our home. So we did the same thing here. We had a bathroom light on and we closed the door just so it was open to crack, so some of the light would come out, so we’d have a little bit of ambient light while we put him to sleep. And that was that. And now I’ll also let everybody know that the bathroom light has an automatic feature, so like lights on a movement sensor.
Ryan (00:42:54):
So if it doesn’t sense any movement for a certain amount of time, the light shuts off. So we cracked the door, had the light on, turned on the sleep sheep, and we all got in bed and fell asleep. At some point in the night, he wakes up crying like babies do, and we know, okay, let’s throw him the sleep sheep and we’ll see if we can just get him back to sleep. And we were under the covers. And so the sleep sheep’s on top of the covers kind of down by our feet. And I’m trying to get one leg out from under the cover, half asleep, and I have my eyes open and I’m trying to reach over to find the sleep sheep with my foot and just see if I can kick it up to me to turn on so I can reach it and hit the button that’s in the middle to turn it back on just one sound. And I’m trying to reach it with my foot and I barely scrape it with my toe and I’m like, I’m not going to get it. I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and sit up and actually reach it like a normal human being. Before I can do that, the light in the bathroom turns on and the sleep sheep cuts on. And my wife was, I looked over at my wife, she’s laying down still, the baby’s in between us.
Jim (00:44:10):
And I bet your first thought there’s a real live person in the bathroom maybe.
Ryan (00:44:15):
I was like, at the moment I didn’t even think about it until literally right after this happened. I just, the light turned on so we could see where the sheep was. And I was like, okay. And I sat up for half sat up. I didn’t sit up all away and I saw the sheep, I looked over at my wife, she was laying there and I was like, did you hit it because maybe I’m only half awake. And she’s like, I didn’t touch it. I didn’t touch it either. You really have to go out of your way to find the button in the middle of the back on this thing. And we’re like, okay. And the baby stopped crying, went back to sleep, and we went back to sleep. We didn’t talk about it until the morning and we were like, did that really happen? The light came on so we could see that the sheep went off, they were turned on by itself, and that was it.
Ryan (00:45:05):
And the baby slept the rest of the night, which as the parents, we were grateful for, but we had that sheep, we replaced that sheep a couple of times over a few years because we wore it out. But I can tell you for the first, we had it for about probably seven, eight months at that point. It never turned on by itself. It turned off sometimes when the batteries went down. It would turn off by itself. Something it never turned itself on before then, that one, or the iterations afterward never turned itself on. It would occasionally turn itself off when the batteries were low, never had that happen. So I mean, I am a hundred percent positive. It is not possible I turned it on, I didn’t turn the sheep over. It was still laying on its stomach. We got up in the morning, so it had not moved. I dunno. Maybe there’s a helpful spirit there or it’s way too many coincidences to be a coincidence, but
Jim (00:45:57):
That’s where my money is on, can’t explain. Yeah, you were in a haunted hotel and stuff starts turning itself on, multiple things, one logical explanation. It’s a ghost.
Ryan (00:46:07):
Yeah, and I don’t know, I tried to do some research to see what rooms specifically have reported haunting like activity, couldn’t find anything on the room we were in, and unfortunately I don’t remember what room we were in now. But I do think that if it’s not specifically something to the hotel, that there are other spirits that are around us that are energies that help us and probably know maybe it was a dear departed, loved one or something else.
Jim (00:46:34):
Makes sense to me. Makes sense to me. Thank you so much for being on the show again, Ryan, and sharing your spooky stories. If you have any more, please sign back up and Stay Spooky.
Ryan (00:46:45):
Thanks, Jim.
Jim (00:46:46):
Kenneth is on the line from the City of Angels, Los Angeles, and we’re so glad to have him on the line. As Kenneth pointed out in his note to me, there’s a lot of news on UFOs. UAPs, I guess is the latest term for them. And Kenneth has a very personal story about how he experienced a very dramatic sighting. Kenneth, welcome to the show and please tell us what happened.
Kenneth (00:47:14):
Thank you, Jim. First, I’d like to thank you for creating this platform where we can share our stories and our experiences. I’ll try to keep this short. Last year between May 6th and May 9th, my wife and I attended a Carnival cruise. This cruise ship left Long Beach, California and departed for Ensenada, which is in Baja, California near Mexico. The day of the incident, I remember it was May 7th, it was considered the day at sea. That’s the day where the ship is farthest away from any shore. It’s considered the day where a lot of activities are available for the attendees on the ship. It’s also the night where there is a captain’s dinner, which is a dinner event towards later in the evening. It’s a very fancy dinner. You kind of dress up and enjoy some good food, which ended around 9:00 PM. My wife and I decided to call it early that night.
Kenneth (00:48:22):
She was feeling a bit woozy from the ship rocking back and forth. They announced that we have sudden rough waters just after the dinner ended. So we walked back to our stateroom. I’ll go ahead and share some details about our stateroom. The state room number was 6217 category 8A, which was a balcony view. The position of the room on the boat was near the front of the ship. Now the room was very nice. It had a restroom, a couch, a bed, some storage and closet areas, as well as a TV mounted on the wall. My wife went to bed due to the consistent rocking of the ship. As I mentioned earlier, we were experiencing slightly rough waters while the ship was moving to its destination. I remember I stayed up a bit longer that night due to just feeling uneasy of the boat, couldn’t just really close my eyes.
Kenneth (00:49:21):
So I decided to watch some to-do shore activities on the TV quietly, which was again mounted against the bed. And I was watching you do horseback riding and all that, trying to plan out our next day adventure to our destination. I remember approximately 11:45 PM that night. I decided to call it a night. So I went to the restroom, washed my face, did my whole night routine, which consisted of shutting off the lights and closing the drapes as well. Now there were walking lights mounted on the floor, so I was able to shut off the main lights and walk over to the balcony to close the window and close the drapes. And as I did, I noticed something strange. As soon as I shut off the lights, I realized that the ship wasn’t no longer rocking as much. I don’t know if this has anything to do with this, but I did notice that right away, it was now sort of a smooth sway almost as if we were just departing. So it wasn’t anything too dramatic where it was still, but no more waves crashing against the boat. And I took a few steps toward the window and what I saw made me a believer to this day. I saw what I can describe sort of, five or so bright orange or amber like orbs about the size of medicine ball workouts from what I can remember from my point of view. These lights were sort of rotating in a circular clockwise rotation gracefully.
Kenneth (00:51:08):
Each ball was sort of pulsating and flying through the air. I was so in shock. It felt sort of like a trance where I couldn’t run over and grab my phone or my camera and get a picture of this. It was sort of like I just had to enjoy this moment. As weird as that sounds, I had to just experience this moment with my own eyes. I then saw the orbs dip in and out of the water, but without disrupting the water.
Jim (00:51:39):
That’s amazing. Now, let me make a point about that because I could hear the first thing, and actually to be honest, it’s one of the first things I thought. I thought, Oh, in the open ocean on a cruise ship, he may have seen Starlink, the Elon Musk satellites for internet, but Starlink satellites wouldn’t dip in and out of the water. That even, and this is a big thing in UFOs these days, the idea of not just UFOs, but USOs, these submersible transmedium, they call them transmedium craft. They can go easily from the sky to the ocean and back very fluidly, no pun intended. So I just wanted to throw that in, that it even lends more substantiation to your story because the fact it is by definition, a transmedium object that really makes it much more, I think, interesting.
Kenneth (00:52:39):
Yes, yes, I agree. And they were doing this sort of, I guess, dance, I would like to say what felt like 15 seconds where they were not disrupting the water, but dipping in and out of the water. I could see their light glowing inside of the water, and as they were dipping in and out and suddenly the bizarre moment was they just suddenly vanished. They sort of dimmed away. And once they did, I just couldn’t believe what I just saw. I was kind of rubbing my eyes and looking out the window like, whoa, what is this? So yeah, that’s basically the entire sighting. Again, I couldn’t even run over to grab my phone or anything. And I know there’s a lot of activity that happens on that San Diego coast towards Baja, California. I’ve heard your show, I’ve heard other shows as well, where fighter pilots, and it’s where our Navy is usually posted.
Kenneth (00:53:48):
That’s where they experience a lot of UAPs or UFO sightings. I, again, have no idea what I saw. I hope I’m not the only one that saw it. I’m not sure if I am. But anyway, I decided to go to bed. I didn’t even tell my wife until the end of the entire trip. I didn’t want her to get worried or possibly ruin the amazing trip that we had. But I’ve only ever told one other soul, which is my very, very close friend. But I’m finally glad to have the opportunity to share my experience.
Jim (00:54:27):
Is it something that has changed your thought process about this whole phenomena? I mean, was it something you were interested in before or was it something you thought, there’s nothing to this? Where were you before this happened, and where are you now in regard to the question of UFOs and UAPs?
Kenneth (00:54:45):
Yeah, great question. So before, I wasn’t really into the UFO sightings or even the paranormal side, but I was always interested to at least think that how could we be alone in this massive universe? I think people need to realize that the universe is so big that our minds can’t even comprehend how big the universe is, and it’s expanding. At least that’s what we know. So when I saw this moment, it was sort of like a transition. I immediately became a believer, a hundred percent believer. I always believe stories and what somebody could see, but now I understand that when you see something, I guess in a moment like this, you can’t run over and grab your phone or you can’t grab your camera. It’s just a moment that you must see with your eyes, and it usually just happens so quickly. But now, I am a firm believer that we live in a bizarre world. Our world is very strange. So yeah, that’s exactly where I stand.
Jim (00:56:02):
Well, Kenneth, thank you so much for sharing your story today on the Campfire.
Kenneth (00:56:08):
Thank you, Jim.
Jim (00:56:09):
Jim Harold’s Campfire is brought to you by Raycon, and I got to tell you, it’s the best time of the year. The leaves are changing colors, cozy vibes, and of course, my personal favorite holiday, Raycon’s Anniversary. Now I am sure you’re thinking, Hey, Jim, don’t you mean Halloween? Well, I’m only kind of joking because get this, does Halloween also give you 20 to 40% off premium electronics? I say, no, but listen up because Raycon, unlike Halloween, is celebrating their anniversary with a sale you don’t want to miss. Now, in past years, you might’ve heard me mention Raycon’s anniversary sale, and this year Raycon is turning six. That’s an important age. And in that short amount of time, Raycon has really made a name for themselves in the premium audio space. Their everyday earbuds, that’s what I use, are known for delivering high quality audio and thoughtful features like a 32 hour battery life and a perfect in-ear fit for all day wear and lasting comfort.
Jim (00:57:14):
All this at half of the price of other premium brands. No wonder they’ve already racked up 78,000 five star reviews. And this past year, well, they expanded their entire business with the introduction of Raycon Home and Raycon Power Tech. So needless to say, there’s a whole lot to celebrate and to thank everyone who’s shown them support in the last six years, Raycon is offering 20% off everything on their site with select products up to 40%. And I love my everyday earbuds. Lately, I’ve really made sure I get that daily walk-in, except for the last week or so where I had a cold. It’s for some reason when I walk and I don’t have to do crazy stuff, but just walking a mile a day, a mile and a half a day, it does wonders for me and my constant companion are my Raycon’s. So join me.
Jim (00:58:10):
You do not want to miss out on Raycon’s anniversary sale. What are you going to do? Wait another year for it? Don’t do that. That’s definitely a trick and not a treat if you miss out. So celebrate Raycon turning six with their biggest sale of the year going on now. Hurry now to buy raycon.com/Campfire. Use code birthday to get 20 to 40% off site wide. That’s code birthday at buyraycon.com/Campfire to score 20 to 40% off buyraycon.com/Campfire. That’s B U Y R A Y C O N.com/Campfire. And be sure to use that code birthday. Thanks Raycon.
Announcer 2 (00:59:00):
Follow Jim on Twitter and Instagram at THEJimHarold, and join our virtual Campfire Facebook group at virtualCampfiregroup.com. Now back to the Campfire.
Jim (00:59:09):
Next up on the Campfire is Roger from Indiana. Actually, I got a chance to meet Roger at the Small Town Monsters MonsterFest back in, I think it was June, early June. And he’s an app developer, and he’s done something very interesting for the paranormal, and we’ll talk about that at the end of the call. But he also has had an amazing experience and a lot of experiences actually. He’s going to talk to us about them. Roger, welcome to the show. Nice to meet you at the event, and please tell us what happened.
Roger (00:59:43):
Well, thank you, Jim. I really, really appreciate this chance to tell my story. I’ve been around the paranormal for a number of years, and this is really what got me into it. It’s kind of a little bit of my origin story, and it’s still a series of events that has perplexed me to this day. It involves a house that I lived down on the east side of Indianapolis, far east side. It was the model home. It wasn’t your typical haunted house. And that’s what perplexed me, because it was basically a one family house at the time, barely eight years old when I moved into it. Before I moved into it, my ex-wife said that her oldest daughter claimed there was a ghost that was there, and I kind of dismissed it at the time. That would kind of be one of those things that would come back on me later. But I remember she was deathly afraid of spiders, and when she moved into the house, she said that there were cobwebs covering the front door, the whole front door, and she thought that was kind of a bit of an omen.
Roger (01:01:13):
And so she really had a lot of apprehensions about the house. Well, I moved in the fall of 1998, and maybe the first thing I’d say I noticed was that the electronics seemed to be acting funny. Now, we had a TV that would just change channels on its own or turn off on its own, and it was just no explanation for it. Now, I know enough about electronics to know that there could have been some kind of component in the TV that was wrong or something like that. So I didn’t really take it that seriously at the time, but then other things started to happen.
Roger (01:02:09):
I remember my ex-wife saying that she woke up and swore that there was a little boy standing beside her, and there were at least three apparitions that were, well, that would’ve been the four, at least four apparitions that were seen at the time. And I’ll kind of get into some of those myself. But the electronics type things kept continuing. I remember twice, I’m a musician and I play the piano, and twice while I was playing the piano, and it is an electronic piano, it’s not a physical piano, but twice while I was playing, I’d be playing along and all of a sudden it was almost like somebody banging on the keys. They’d just start playing. And it was incredibly startling to me. And once it was when my stepdaughter was there, this was after my ex-wife and I split, she actually witnessed it happen. And in that same recording, because we record music together, we like to record music together.
Roger (01:03:30):
And in that same recording, I remember we had the microphone. She sings on a boom stand. And I remember at one point the boom, the microphone boom just swung around.
Jim (01:03:49):
Oh man.
Roger (01:03:51):
Yeah. And stopped right in front of her mouth.
Jim (01:03:54):
Yeah, that could be really dangerous. That could be really dangerous.
Roger (01:03:57):
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So that was creepy. And so object movement like that would happen. Cabinet doors and doors would open the cabinet doors. I lived there 14 years and five of those were alone. And the cabinet doors were really hard to figure out because it’s one of those things like, did I leave that cabinet door open or did it open on its own? And I really felt like it was opening on its own, but I had to come up with a way to figure out for sure if it was doing it on its own. And so I came up with this little routine where I’d open the cabinet door, I’d take out a glass, and I’d say to myself, I’m opening the cabinet door. I’m taking out a glass. There are two glasses left. I’m closing the cabinet door. I kind of got into this routine where I do that. And finally one time I came out and the cabinet door was open and there were two glasses left. I knew I had gone through my routine and I realized that the cabinet doors were opening.
Roger (01:05:14):
So I’ll tell you one of the scariest things, two of the scariest things that happened, one of them had to do again with electronics, and that was in the middle of the night. All of a sudden I heard something. Now my stepchildren were at visiting their fathers at the time, and I heard something, I had no idea what it was. This was 3:00 AM I’m woken up and I’m walking down the halls not knowing what I’m up against basically. And it was my oldest stepdaughter’s radio had come on in at 3:00 AM full blast. And I remember the song and I had to get in there and turn it off, but it was, her bedroom was a little hard to navigate, and the light switch wasn’t right against the doorway. So I’m in the middle of the dark. I don’t know how to turn this stereo off.
Roger (01:06:22):
And all the time it’s like yelling the lyrics, “I hate you so much right now’, over and over again.
Jim (01:06:30):
Oh my gosh. Oh, that’s terrifying.
Roger (01:06:32):
It truly was. That was the most terrifying thing. Not the strangest thing, but the most terrifying thing because it was just going in the dark trying to turn that off, and it felt so personal. “I hate you so much right now,” over and over again. So anyway, I turned that off. That room was a hotspot for sure. In fact, we came home, my ex-wife and I came home one evening and my oldest stepdaughter was sitting on the porch.
Roger (01:07:13):
Her closet door came off. The hinges just popped off the hinges. She said it kind of blew off the hinges. I was able to put it back on without a lot of difficulty. It wasn’t kind like your heavy hinge door. It was just one of those folding closet doors. But she didn’t want to go back inside alone because it just popped off. So that was a hotspot of activity. I would say that the creepiest thing to me, not the scariest thing, was that I had this little cat named Karma and she slept with me and, a little orange tabby, and I kind of became sensitive to where she was as I slept because I didn’t want to roll on her. But all of a sudden she jerked. This was in, I want to say December 3rd, I don’t know what year, but it was in December, and this was also at 3:00 AM. All of a sudden she jerked and I looked down at her, I noticed her, I felt her move, and I looked down at her first, and then she was looking at the door.
Roger (01:08:40):
So my eyes turned to look at the door, and standing in the doorway was a very large horned black figure standing in my door with its mouth wide open and it looked like a deer, the face. And then it had its legs out in kind of almost a leaping pose, just staring at both of us. Now, my cat, I don’t remember being super fearful of this thing at the time, and my cat wasn’t reacting like I had seen her react to a possum once outside our door, how that hair stands on the end. She wasn’t hissing or anything. We were both kind of staring in kind of almost disbelief at this thing. And then I remember we stared, I don’t know how long it was, it may have been less than a minute, and it backed up into my hallway, and I’ll never forget this. It disappeared into this black swirling mist.
Roger (01:10:03):
And that was very telling to me because I’d had hypnotic dreams before where you’re half asleep and half awake and you see something. But in my experience with those, they just faded away. This turned into this black swirling mist, and that was very, very, it made a huge impression on me. And last year about this time, I had a chance to go out to SkinWalker Ranch and look at the petroglyphs. And on some of the petroglyphs, there are these whirling swirls on them. And this is just my theory because I’ve also read accounts of people seeing black swirling mist in the desert there. But my theory is, and they have big horned beams on these petroglyphs too. My theory is those swirls are depicting the swirling mist. So it’s only a theory, obviously, but that was probably one of the weirdest things I had ever encountered.
Jim (01:11:26):
Yeah, absolutely. My goodness. And if I missed this, so you don’t live in that home anymore, is that correct?
Roger (01:11:33):
No, no. I met my business partner and she had a paranormal team and she had a home and I moved in with her. We got married and we’re no longer together, but she still works on the apps with me.
Jim (01:11:55):
Do you think you ever came, I know you talked about those petroglyphs and things. Do you think you ever came up with a solution with what was actually haunting you all there? Or is it just still remain a mystery to you?
Roger (01:12:07):
See, that was the thing, because I absolutely believed this phenomenon was real. I started looking into the history of the area and seeing if any other houses had ever been there and talking to people who had been around there forever. There was this weird schoolhouse on the corner of a German church and 30th street, but probably maybe a hundred to 150 yards from that house. And it was an early one room schoolhouse, and it was still standing while I lived there. And I remember I wanted to see inside it, I’d always been drawn to it. And it had these weird markings on above all of the doors. And as you got up into the house and looked out over the garage, it had weird markings on the roof as well. And I felt like it was towards something off. But literally, no. I mean, no one had ever died in the house. To my knowledge. Everybody always says Indian burial ground. That seems so cliche, right?
Jim (01:13:28):
Yeah. That’s what people say when they don’t have an explanation. A lot of times I think.
Roger (01:13:32):
Right, right But that whole area seemed almost cursed in a lot of ways. It economically depressed. There was a golf course across the street when I moved in, it went out.
Jim (01:13:47):
So it just had kind of a vibe. Well, thank you so much for sharing that very compelling story. And I want to give you a minute or so, we have to get to other calls, but I want to give you a minute or so to tell people about your paranormal oriented app. So go ahead and tell ’em please.
Roger (01:14:02):
Well, thank you. Thank you so much for allowing me to do this. Like I said, this launched an interest in the paranormal. I, along with my business partner, Jill, created Spirit Story Box at first, and then recently we were compelled to look at a digital recorder. That’s a real device that everyone would know, but I don’t want to talk about it by name because…
Jim (01:14:34):
Right. It’s a certain one that’s well known for being very effective in the collection of EVPs, if I remember correctly.
Roger (01:14:40):
Yes. And so I researched that thoroughly. That was kind of my Covid project, and I got into it. I had to learn a lot. I am into electronics, but I had to learn a lot about other things. And it is called the ER 70 EVP recorder. It’s only available for Apple at the moment, but it implements the exact same signal chain as that famous recorder. And we’ve gotten some compelling results with it. So much so that I was even surprised by it. And even though I’m mimicking that piece of electronic hardware, I didn’t think it could have anything special that would make it suited for EVPs, but it turns out it does. It’s really good.
Jim (01:15:38):
Cool. Well, I hope that everybody checks it out. And if I remember correctly, is the ER 70 EVP recorder, is that the correct name?
Roger (01:15:47):
That is correct. Thank you.
Jim (01:15:49):
Alright, well Roger, thank you so much for sharing your story and that information about your app and for being a part of the Campfire. Stay Spooky.
Roger (01:15:58):
Alright, thank you.
Jim (01:15:59):
Next up on the show is Keshet Rose. Now Keshet has an interesting story. Her husband took her for a special birthday celebration. Obviously a great guy sparing no expense, but strangeness ensued. Keshet is on the line. Keshet Rose, thank you for joining us. Tell us what happened.
Keshet (01:16:18):
Hello, Jim. It’s an honor to be here.
Jim (01:16:21):
Good to have you.
Keshet (01:16:22):
Thanks. We started the weekend off at the Culver Hotel. It is a very haunted hotel with the restaurant inside of it. It has a Wizard of Oz theme, and that hotel is very haunted. I never used to think it was, but when I was in the bathroom, I watched these old fashioned swan handle. I watched it move by itself and I watched, watched the water come out of it after I just got done telling my friend, it’s not haunted. But I was in the bathroom all by myself and I watched the water come on and then I laughed and I said, can you please turn the water back off? And then I watched the handle move. So the first lesson of the story is don’t tease the ghost and say it’s not haunted.
Jim (01:17:17):
And you said some of the cast had stayed there, Right?
Keshet (01:17:19):
Yeah. And the cast of the cast of the Wizard of Oz stayed there. It’s a heavily Wizard of Oz theme, a hotel slash restaurant by Sony Studios. So if people like the Wizard of Oz, they should definitely try it. So the next morning we ventured to the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego because I wanted to see the beach and I wanted to be at a haunted hotel for my birthday. And I’d never been there and I’d never heard about it. All I know is that they shot “Some Like It Hot” with Marilyn Monroe there. That’s all I know about it. So we go and we do the Haunted tour and I heard the whole story about Kate Morgan. You can look it up. It’s an old beautiful hotel. It’s Victorian, it’s from 1888. Some of the floors are wobbly because it’s all wood. And we stayed in the old part of the hotel. They have a newer part, but we stayed in the old part. And I didn’t think much about the tour. I learned a lot about it. I learned that the man who wrote the Wizard of Oz stayed there and he wrote part of the Wizard of Oz while he was staying there L. Frank Baum. And it was also his same birthday weekend. His birthday is like May 15th. And we were there for that whole Mother’s Day weekend.
Keshet (01:18:43):
So didn’t see much in the haunted tour. And I was like, this hotel is not haunted. I was like this, I don’t feel anything here. They also told us that the haunted floors were like the third floor and up. That’s the floor that Kate Morgan, the ghost that haunts it, stayed at. But we stayed on the second floor. We were walking down the hallway. The floors are kind of uneven, but the hallway’s very cheerful. The walls are very cheerful. But in the corner of my eye, way down the hallway, I saw a man wearing a khaki, like a uniform, maybe a military uniform. I didn’t get a good look at him. He had dark hair. He was kind of short, but he was whistling. That’s why I looked behind me. We were the only people except that man. And he was whistling. And as we kept walking, his whistling got louder and louder and louder and I turned back around and I didn’t see him again. And so I told my husband, I was like, the only thing haunted about this hotel is that man whistling behind us. And he looked at me and he was like, “What man whistling?”
Jim (01:19:52):
I knew it.
Keshet (01:19:55):
I was like, Oh my God, what are you talking about? Are you kidding me right now? Are you joking me? I thought he was joking me. No, he was dead serious. “There is no man whistling and there has never been a man whistling behind us. We are the only people walking down this hallway.” So I was really freaked out and then all of a sudden, of course I didn’t hear the whistling. Then we go to our room and we stayed in room 3250. And I was like, well, if that was my only haunted experience for my birthday, I’m kind of disappointed. But it wasn’t. At about midnight, I could feel something tickling my feet. I do not like to be tickled. I do not like my feet to be tickled. But I kind of told myself, it’s all in my imagination. However, it wasn’t because I opened my eyes and I saw that the bathroom light had come on and the bathroom was way down the hallway.
Keshet (01:20:47):
And I woke up my husband and I was like, “Did you turn on the bathroom light and not turn it off?” I have to have complete darkness. And he was like, “No, no, I didn’t.” I was like, “Well, then you go investigate and you go turn off the light.” So he got up and he walked all the way back there and he turned off the light and he was like, I don’t know why the light came on, went back to sleep. This time I felt like something tucking me in, on the side of me.
Jim (01:21:12):
Oh man.
Keshet (01:21:14):
And I felt something brushing my hair and my head and I was like, my God, it’s happening. And then I felt something walking on me like a cat.
Jim (01:21:26):
Oh man. Yeah, you asked for it, you got it.
Keshet (01:21:30):
I got it. I sat up straight up because I wanted to see what was there.
Keshet (01:21:36):
I was kind of scared, but I was kind of excited. And this time I saw the light come on in the bathroom all by itself. I was so excited. I was like, I watched it and I woke my husband up. I screamed so loud and I was like, Oh my God. I saw it. I saw it with my own two eyes. I saw the bathroom light come on by itself. It is not in my imagination. It came on. He went over there, he investigated, there’s no bugs, the light’s not on, I mean the air wasn’t on. He said, the light is on a motion detector, so something must have moved past the motion detector. And I called the front desk and I said, I’m in 3250. Is there any electrical problems that I should know about because the bathroom light keeps coming on by itself?
Keshet (01:22:25):
And I scared the front desk girl, I scared her. She’s like, your room has no problems. I have never heard anyone have a problem with that. We can send maintenance. And she was really spooked out. And I was like, no, it’s like 4:20 in the morning. I’m fine. But then after that, when I got home, I started getting woken up, tickling of the feet at midnight and 4:00 AM
Jim (01:22:51):
So it followed you?
Keshet (01:22:53):
It followed me. I think it did.
Jim (01:22:54):
Oh boy.
Keshet (01:22:56):
And then it happened for a few nights and then finally I stopped being lazy and I saged. I blessed my home and I was fine after that.
Jim (01:23:05):
Interesting. So, now would you want to go back to another haunted location, have an experience, or since the fact that it followed you, is that kind of put a scare into you that maybe you’re like, I don’t know about this. How do you fall on that?
Keshet (01:23:21):
Oh, I think it was like a fun, playful, I think like you ask and you receive and it was fun and playful and it didn’t hurt me or bother me or it just made us laugh. And I’ll do it again.
Jim (01:23:35):
Keshet, thank you for joining us today. I appreciate a great story about a birthday weekend with something a little bit extra. Thanks again for being on the show and Stay Spooky.
Keshet (01:23:47):
Thanks, you too.
Jim (01:23:48):
Well, we did it again. We made it through another edition of Campfire. And please this spooky time of year, please tell someone about the Campfire. And if you’ve listened this long, you are a loyal listener, we appreciate it. So maybe if you’re listening on your app right now and you’re in a safe place to do so, just text and share to a friend. But most of the apps have sharing functionality. You just share it off to another friend who is interested in the spooky. Maybe you send somebody an email, maybe you tell somebody when you’re all talking about what you’re going to dress up as Halloween and all of that fun stuff. So please do tell a friend. Also, check out our special Mausoleum of Merch with limited edition Campfire gear, jimharold.com/merch, jimharold.com/merch. Now we are going to have a special live stream Saturday night, October 28th, and that will be in recognition for Halloween. We do it every year. Dar will be along, Cassandra will be along, Maddie will be along, and some special guests too. And it will indeed be a great time and I hope that you check that out as well. And thank you so much for tuning into the Campfire. I certainly appreciate it. Share the show. Stay safe and Stay Spooky. Bye-bye.
Announcer 1 (01:25:11):
You’ve been listening to Jim Harold’s Campfire. Tune in again next time. For more stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things.